


If it Doesn't Scan, It's Free

by megapidgeots



Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Alternate Universe - Retail, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 06:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8391637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megapidgeots/pseuds/megapidgeots
Summary: Bonnie and Marcy are both stuck in the same dead-end retail job as they make their way through college. Though most of their interactions are limited to passing work conversations, the two quickly become close.





	

The first time Bonnie encountered Marceline Abadeer, she was putting away returned items in the toy aisle. There was a fairly large basket- kids were prone to grabbing toys without their parents noticing, after which the parent would hastily hand it to the cashier when their child wasn't looking to avoid a tantrum. Marceline, meanwhile, was moving overstock to the main shelves.

The two had worked at the same store for a while, but previously, Marceline had only worked day shifts. Now that she was in college, she joined Bonnie for the late shift. She'd seen her in passing before- Marceline leaving and her starting, but that was all she had to go off- she knew she was a pretty girl- she might go so far as to describe her as tall, dark, and handsome, or something like that. However, tall, dark, and handsome apparently referred to people with dark _hair-_ something she had just discovered recently. Regardless, Marceline had both dark skin and lovely raven black hair, so she supposed the saying worked either way.

“Yo, dudes, heads up, Dianne is in the building. She needs customer service in aisle nine,” a crackly voice said through her earpiece.

The two simultaneously cursed under their breath. Dianne always had a long list of shopping to do, and never wanted to look for any of it herself- she was perfectly happy having employees do it for her. Whoever was stuck with this duty would lost at least a half hour of work, and so Marceline and Bonnie's eyes met, and the contract was sealed.

“Rock, paper, scissors,” they said in unison.

Marceline drew scissors, Bonnie drew paper.

“Fuck,” Bonnie said under her breath.

Marceline winked, “Good luck.”

* * *

 

Her second encounter with Marceline occurred under very similar circumstances. Once again, they were in an aisle together, and once again, the person working at the customer service desk warned them about a problem customer.

Marceline held her hand out.

“Oh, c'mon, dude, your turn.”

Marceline grinned, “Sorry, dude, rock paper scissors, every time.”

“That woman shouted at me last time.”

Marceline didn't budge.

Bonnie let out an exaggerated sigh. The truth was, she'd been planning for this day. She was sure Marceline was the type to use the same strategy over and over. She would overcome her with sheer force of wit.

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

Bonnie drew rock.

Marceline drew paper.

“What?” Bonnie snapped, perhaps too loudly.

Marceline laughed, an equally loud, rough-sounding laugh, “Nice try, Bonbon, but your turn again.”

“You- you out _played_ me,” Bonnie said huffily.

Marceline grinned wider, “Not your fault I'm a rock paper scissors master, now, you don't wanna leave one of our favorite customers waiting.”

* * *

 

The third occasional in which Bonnie encountered Marceline was on more favorable terms. It was during the last hour of a shift, when business had slowed considerably. A single person, as far as she could tell, wandered the store, and they seemed perfectly content to go about their business on their own. As such, Marceline approached her, “Man, it's boring tonight.”

“Tell me about it,” Bonnie groaned, leaning back against the desk, “I was supposed to see a movie with my friends tonight.”

Marceline hummed, “You off tomorrow?”

Bonnie frowned, “Yeah, but all my friends work that day.”

Marceline leaned forward, “Well, I don't.”

Bonnie leaned away, “Is it normal to see movies with your coworkers? I've never even seen a coworker outside of work, except Finn, but we've been friends since preschool.”

“It is if you aren't a loser,” Marceline said in a sing-song voice.

“You calling me a loser?”

“Maybe. Are we gonna see a movie tomorrow?”

Bonnie wasn't sure why she was immediately tempted to agree. She certainly didn't owe Marceline anything- she didn't have to win her respect. She was good at her job, and that's all she needed in a work environment. Then again, Marceline seemed pretty, uh, cool, and she'd been looking forward to seeing a movie- she didn't really care what- she just wanted expensive movie theater popcorn, “Yeah, sure. Here's my number.”

* * *

 

Bonnie arrived at the movie theater infuriatingly early, as she always did, and sat waiting for Marceline in a cramped sitting area for a good twenty minutes- that was her own fault. She played with her shoulder length, dyed pink hair for a short time, pondering if she should cut it, or let it grow out this time. Marceline was perfectly on time, but she was still, very irrationally, annoyed as a result of waiting so long.

This evaporated once Marceline spoke to her. The other girl cheerily helped her to her feet and went on a ramble about how she loved animated movies.

“I like those really bad over dramatic movies, but actual serious movies just bum me out. Cartoons are silly, or whatever, but I'd rather watch one of those than some lame think piece that'll make me cry myself to sleep at night.”

Bonnie snorted, “I get that. I enjoy them sometimes, but I just care more about watching something with people- then you can discuss it after, at least. Watching a movie alone always leaves me feeling nothing.”

“I ain't got the attention span for that,” Marceline said, taking her ticket from the teller and moving on to the snack bar, “oh, I sneaked some candy in,” she whispered.

“Me too,” Bonnie grinned, opening her purse to reveal a small stash, “but I still want a drink- do you want to share a popcorn?”

“Nah, I hate popcorn, but the combo with a popcorn and two large drinks is cheaper than two drinks on their own, so we can split the price.”

“Sounds good, you popcorn-hating heathen.”

“I like caramel corn.”

“I'm rethinking this up-and-coming friendship.”

Marceline tilted her head, “I thought you didn't like being friends with people from work.”

Bonnie couldn't help but blush, “Well, uh, oh, number four combo please. Root beer for me, and uh, Marceline?”

“Orange soda. Don't dodge the question, Bon, you _like_ me.”

Bonnie rolled her eyes, “Shut up.”

Marceline, however, was absolutely right.

* * *

 

Their next few encounters were increasingly friendly. Usually, it would happen in the form of them doing exactly what they shouldn't do at work, until such a time where the were called out by a manager. However, some nights, their more lax manager, Jake, was on duty, and he didn't really care what they did, as long as they weren't being swarmed by customers. The two girls took the opportunity to visit their coworker Mabel, who worked in their cosmetics section, and was a pudgy elderly woman who told the best stories. Something about the way she told them always made them seem more dramatic than they actually were.

“And, well, at this point I was at our _downtown_ location and let me tell you ladies that place is bad news. People down there will kick your butt for a quarter, let me tell you. I had to fight my way out of more than a few kerfuffles.”

Marceline chuckled, “You're one tough cookie.”

“You can say badass, dear- there's no customers here and I do believe the word is more flattering.”'

“Yeah, alright,” Marceline laughed, “you're a total badass, Mabel.”

“That's Ms. Trunks to you, until you've beaten up four dudes twice your size with your _hand tied behind your back_.”

“Gosh, Marceline,” Bonnie said, shaking her head, “I'm terribly sorry, Ms. Trunks. She just doesn't know her manners.”

“Oh, sure, Bonbon- wasn't it you who told a customer to go fuck himself in a dumpster the other day? How _tactless_ , not to mention oddly specific.”

“You girls are never going to get boyfriends talking like that.”

Before Bonnie could throw back a witty response, Marceline shrugged and said, “I'm gay.”

Mabel let out a low laugh, followed by a flustered apology. Bonnie could only stare. Had she really just said that, so nonchalantly? It couldn't be real- it was too great to be real.

“Uh, Bonnie?” Marceline said, concern colouring her expression.

Oh, she was staring.

“Oh, uh, sorry, you just caught me off guard is all, uh, I think I just saw a customer walk in, real shady, gonna go lay down some customer service.”

She brushed past Marceline, grimly aware of her eyes burning into the back of her head. She _knew_ this looked bad, but she didn't know what to say. She wanted to say something dumb like “Boy howdy, you're gay _and_ cute, let's make out,” but that was, y'know, _dumb._

She proceeded to mentally punch herself in the face for the remainder of the shift.

* * *

 

She was surprised, to say the least, when Marceline offered her a ride home after their shift. She'd driven her before, sure, once or twice, but she figured her sub-par reaction to Marceline coming out would have soured the deal. Regardless, it was an opportunity to redeem herself, so she took it.

Marceline's car was old, and not without its many, many, blemishes, but she supposed that it worked, and that was enough. The back seat, as it had been every time she'd rode in it, was filled with miscellaneous music equipment.

Marceline started the car, and the two were silent for a few minutes. Eventually, Bonnie broke the silence, “I was a bit uh, weird earlier.”

Marceline frowned, “Yeah. Uh, I thought everyone knew, to be honest. Are you okay, you know, with it?”

Bonnie straightened her back, “Uh, yeah, obviously, it's just, uh.”

Marceline's frown deepened.

Bonnie sighed, “I'm gay.”

Marceline's face morphed into a wide grin, “Oh, dude, you had me panicking all shift. That's awesome.”

Bonnie laughed, “Yeah, and I'm embarrassed, so let's listen to some music.”

Marceline nodded and popped in a CD. She didn't recognize the artist, to be honest- she was bad at the specifics of music- she mostly knew what songs or pieces she liked, and that was the end of that. However, in this instance, the music wasn't the best part of the scenario.

Marceline's face was lit beautifully in the moonlight as she sang along, her voice overpowering the singer's. If Bonnie were a bit more of a sap, she might say this was the moment where she fell in love with Marceline, but that wasn't really true. It wasn't even the moment she realized she had a crush on her- she'd pretty much gotten that feeling after about two minutes of looking at her. What she realized then, however, was that the crush wasn't going away in a hurry.

* * *

 

Bonnie and Marceline were working together during an opening shift on the weekend when the power went out. Their immediate reaction of course, was to turn and high-five each other. Power outages were the perfect situation- they didn't have to pretend to care about customers, and they still got payed for their whole shift. Plus, since it happened during hours, they got to kick people out.

“So sorry,” the said to many, many customers, none of whom they were actually sorry to see go. Since the tills took at least an hour to reset once the power returned, they had at least an hour to do nothing, even if the power returned right away.

Immediately, she and Marceline pulled fold-up chairs out of an aisle and took a seat, “Yo, Marcy, I don't think I ever asked, what're you up to in college? Music?”

Marceline hummed, tapping her foot, “Music minor- I'm majoring in computer science. You might not believe in from looking at me, but I'm a math pro. I had my uncle Simon to teach me- he teaches at your university, I think.”

Bonnie blinked, “Last name?”

“Petrikov.”

“Oh, that dude's awesome,” Bonnie laughed, “he always did weird stunts, like bringing a skateboard to class and trying to ride it. Entertaining, but I worried about his safety.”

“That does sound like him. I wouldn't worry, though, the dude's practically immortal. He's taken some pretty gnarly hits and walked away just fine.”

“Do people still use the word gnarly?”

Marceline shrugged, “If they're cool.”

Bonnie produced a wicked smile, “Yeah, then why are you using it?”

“Oh, I'm wounded.”

Unfortunately for them, the power returned then, and it was legally safe for them to get back to work, even if they couldn't yet open the doors. The two put their chairs away with a sigh.

“Hey, Bon, you're off monday right?”

“Yeah?”

“Wanna have a movie night at my place then? After class?”

Bonnie smiled, “Yeah dude.”

* * *

 

Bonnie was exhausted after classes. Two classes followed by two labs, each two hours, was way too much for one day. She collapsed on Marceline's couch, excited to hang out, but also ready to pass out at any moment.

Marceline plopped down next to her, a bowl of mixed berries in hand, “You gonna be alright?”

“Mmhm, let's watch something bad.”

Marceline nodded and began scrolling through netflix, occasionally pausing to read a film's description.

Eventually she picked a poorly animated movie- Bonnie hadn't been paying attention to the title- featuring some nonsense about a vegan lion who liked to sing.

Her eyelids felt heavy.

When she opened her eyes again, a completely different film was playing- this one live action. She felt something hard on her side, and blearily glanced up, only to find herself nose-to-nose with Marceline.

“Oh, hey sleeping beauty.”

“Uh.”

Marceline blinked, her green eyes _painfully_ close to her own. The scene was perfectly set up for a romantic situation. She had to take her chance.

“I'm gonna go home.”

“Oh, uh, okay,” Marceline said, helping her to her feet, “it was good hanging out.”

“Yeah, uh,” she glanced at Marceline, their eyes meeting once again, “I'll text you when I get home.”

“Yeah.”

* * *

 

Bonnie lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling. By some painful irony, she wasn't able to sleep after her movie date with Marceline. How had she messed up such a golden opportunity?

She groaned, rolling over so her face was buried in her pillow.

Communication, perhaps, wasn't her strong suit.

Her phone buzzed, so she rolled over again to pick it up.

It was a message from Marceline.

_Marceline: Hey, are you okay?_

_Bonnie: Yeah, sorry._

_Marceline: So, hey._

There was a long pause between that and her next reply, allowing for anxiety to build in Bonnie's chest in the meantime.

_Marceline: This is super lame to ask over text. I was gonna ask tonight, but, well, y'know. Uh, do you wanna go on a date-date or whatever? Sometime?_

Bonnie blinked at the screen a few times, before a smile spread across her face. Bonnibel Burnett, officially a part of a workplace romance, how cliche.

_Bonnie: I'd love to._

 

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAAAAnd I'll try to get the next C's chapter out next week, haha ^^; 
> 
> Mabel = Tree Trunks. Not sure why I chose that name, tbh. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy !! ♥


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